Arts and Entertainment

Brian Brooks Moving Company provides a varied dance experience

By Lauren Pyo ’17

On Saturday, Nov. 8 at 7:30 pm, the Brian Brooks Moving Company performed in Wellin Hall. The Company was brought to Hamilton through the Mohawk Valley Dance Partnership. The performance consisted of five dances, all choreographed by Brian Brook, and two of the five were performed by Brooks himself. All the dances utilized unique styles and each performance stressed how the dances, costumes, lightings, props and music came together to form a compelling experience.

The first half of the performance consisted of three dances. Brian Brooks began the night with a spunky and fast-paced solo called “I’m Going to Explode.” The dance company then performed “Division,” which consisted of many patterned movements with props. The number “Descent” ended the first half of the show with a more mysterious, mystical tone.  Brian Brooks also began the second half of the performance, this time performing in a high-energy duet called “Motor.” The final performance of the night was a dance called “Torrent,” which comprised a more lyrical style compared to the other, and more fast-paced dances.

The choreography for each dance had a clean and sharp rhythmic pattern in which each movement flowed nicely into the next. This style was clearly seen in the “Descent” number, which started with the dancers entering the stage in pairs. One dancer walked across the stage with his partner lying down sideways on his back. Slowly, other dancers started entering the stage in the same way. When each pair walked toward a certain point on stage, they put their partner down, switched to the side the partner was lying on and walked back. This pattern occurred continuously, creating almost hypnotic imagery. In the middle of this number, this arrangement stopped, and a dancer came out from the side of the stage fanning tulle in the air. The tulle formed different shapes as it  drifted beautifully in the air. Then, other dancers came out in sequence with different colored tulle following the same movements.

The costuming was very simple.The dancers were not clad identically for every number, but their costumes were coordinated and not clashing. The coordination or difference in costumes was contingent upon the different styles in each dance. In “Division,” the costumes were uniform, creating a homogeneous crowd. The costumes were sensibly matched, for the dance itself consisted of systematic patterns in the movements the dancer made with the boards they used as props. The duplicate costumes gave the number a clean-cut look, matching the style of the movements in the dance.

The lighting and music also aligned with the style of the dances. For “Torrent,” the lighting was dim and classical orchestra music played fitting given the lightness and grace of the dancers’ movements. For “Motor” and “I’m Going to Explode,” the upbeat music matched the dancers’ buoyant mood. The foggy effect of the light in “Descent.” which  shined from all different angles, enhanced the otherworldly tone of the dance.

The Brian Brooks Moving Company staged an unforgettable performance for the Hamilton community. Marked by a differentiation in the styles employed by the dancers, the performers could truly exhibit the range of their immense talent.   Brian Brooks’s choreography is wonderfully distinctive, making the show as a whole a striking experience.

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